Interview with George R.R. Martin

- GRRM, MS, MC and JM: What has it been like collaborating with several authors who are new (or nearly new, in Daniel's case) to writing in the Wild Cards setting?

GRRM: New writers and new characters help keep a series fresh. Every new player sees the world a little differently, and when a new character steps on stage and begins to interact with the existing cast, sparks fly and doorways open, and that's half the fun of a project like this. Mind you, it's not an easy task for a new writer. You're like a musician sitting down to jam with a band that's been playing together for decades. Talent alone is not enough; you also need to play well with others. That being said, I think this time around we drew all aces with our new contributors. Their energy and enthusiasm even helped to fire up us old timers.

MICHAEL: From a contributor's perspective (as opposed to editor's), there was no difference. I'm not sure I'd even know what a "new" writer would do differently -- except write a longer-than-needed first draft.

JOHN: My stories, particularly the one in the first book, are more self-contained than many of the others. Still, there’s nothing like an infusion of fresh blood to get all systems up and humming.

MELINDA: The new writers have been wonderful. First, they are in fact younger than many of the original generation, and they bring a fresh outlook to the project. And they are all stunningly talented. They are also a little more wry and a little more cynical then we were, and I think that will add to the energy of the books.

- Are the nine of you going to be collaborating on the forthcoming sequels to Inside Straight, or will there be new additions to the Wild Cards roster?

CARRIE: Yes and yes. Many of us are in Busted Flush, along with some otherfamiliar names. It seems to be going like much of the earlier series did: you'll find familiar as well as new names in each volume.

DANIEL: That's up to George. I sat out the second book in part because I was planning to be busy writing scripts for a six-issue Wild Cards comic book. As it worked out, I might have been able to do both, but it's not like you can be sure of those things going in. I'll pitch my idea for the third book, and we'll see if he takes me up on it or not.

More generally speaking, I hope there will be more folks folded into the project. I think there are some very talented wtiters out there who could have something interesting to say in this world.

IAN: First-generation Wild Cards author Bud Simons and I are collaborating on a joint story for Busted Flush. We're putting the final (I hope!) touches on it now.

MICHAEL: It all depends on where I see an opportunity to tell a story within the larger narrative.

JOHN: I believe the second book is more or less the same line-up. I’m sure there’ll be more additions as the series proceeds.

CAROLINE: I think everyone from Inside Straight is currently working on the next book, Busted Flush. (With the addition of Bud Simons and Kevin A. Murphy to the roster. It’s a very full book.) As for adding new writers, I’m thinking that’s a George question. Who else are you going to suck…er, uhm, ask to join?

S. L.: Oh, there are several other writers who are part of the Consortium, and there is never a guarantee that you'll have a story in any one particular book. You almost certainly will see 'new' writers in future books. Here's how it works, in a nutshell. The overall arc of the book is hammered out, a process where anyone who wants to participate has a voice -- that's sometimes done in person: in the old days, that might have been at a convention, but there was a get-together in New Mexico where much of the arc of the current three books under contract was drafted (I wasn't there *sniff*). Then the arc was further refined by e-mail input from those who couldn't be at the meeting -- most of our communication is through group e-mail.

Eventually, George puts out a call for 'pitches' for the book. Any writer who wants to be in that book writes up a one or two page outline of the story he or she would like to write: which character will be the protagonist, what other characters of other writers you're going to use in addition to your own, and how your story is going to tie into the overall plot of the book. Writers are best advised, when they're putting together their pitches, to be talking to the other writers because the better your pitch weaves into other stories being pitched, the better your chances of making the cut.

Because there will be a cut. George can only take so many stories in any one volume, and he always gets more pitches than he can accept. George decides which stories are going to best work together and lets everyone know whether they're in or out. Since there are, I don't know, maybe thirty people who have 'shares' in the Consortium, there could conceivably be thirty pitches on any one book -- I don't think George has ever received a pitch from everyone who could pitch, though: sometimes a writer just doesn't have an idea for a particular volume, or your characters just don't seem to fit, or you're working on another deadline and just don't have time, or life is simply too busy right now...

You can see from the above process, though, why WILD CARDS is "By Invitation Only." A writer coming in 'cold' or unsolicited would have no knowledge of the current book-in-progress (always one or maybe even two ahead of the one that's currently in print) and thus wouldn't be able to tie their story into the plot.

MELINDA: I think we're pretty much set for this triad. It would be hard to bring in a totally new writer for the full mosaic, but if the books do well and we get a second triad we'll be adding to the roster. I spoke to one potential writer at World Fantasy and I think fans will be blown away if he joins the stable.

GRRM: It's rare for any two Wild Cards books to have exactly the same lineup. At present we have thirty members in the Wild Cards consortium, but only eight or nine story slots in any volume (fewer for the full-on mosaics). Busted Flush will feature stories by many of the writers who were in Inside Straight, but not all of them; on the flip side, it will have contributions from several authors who were not in the first book. And the lineup for the concluding mosaic, Suicide Kings, remains to be determined.